Herman miller-



(No Model.)

H. MILLER.

SHEET METAL CAN.

No. 368,348. Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

. g B asses. 9

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN MILLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SHEET-METAL CAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,348, dated August 16, 1887.

Application filed June 30, 1857. Serial No. 249,945. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMAN MILLER, of the city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Metal Cans and other Vessels,ofwhieh thefollowingisaspecification.

This invention is more especially intended for cans for the holding and transportation of refined pertroleum; and its object is particularly to obtain ajoint which is better capable of resisting the tendency to tear apart the joints between the sides and heads of such vessols, which results from the expansion of such oil when exposed to an atmospheric temperature higher than that which the oil had at the time of filling the can.

The invention consists in a joint for such vessels of novel construction,or, in other words, in a novel combination of the plates of which the sides and heads of such vessels are composed, forming a joint by which the said object is attained.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a can having the joints between the sides and edges constructed ac cording to my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, on a greatly enlarged scale, of a part of one side and a part of the bottom or lower head of the can. Fig. 2* is a view corresponding with Fig. 2, but on the same scale as Fig. 1, illustrating a modification of myjoint. Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are views showing portions of the side plates and bottom plates of several cans of different kinds, illustrating the prior state of the art.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A designates the side plates of the can, and B the heads thereof. The side plates, A, have their upper and lower marginal portions, which unite with the heads B, folded or doubled inward, as shown at a in Fig. 2. The heads are represented as having their marginalportions turned outward, as shown at Z) in Fig. 2, and folded backward, as shown at c in said figure, the edge of the backwardly-folded part 0 being presented outside the joint. The plates being thus folded, and the folded margin of the plate A being placed. within the folded marginal portion of the plate B, the parts may be soldered together by dipping into molten solder in the manner commonly practiced in the soldering of joints of sheet-metal vessels for like purposes, and the melted solder easily passes through the spaces left between the outer lap, c, of the head B and the contiguous portion of the fold of the plate A, and passes the bend of the fold of the plate A and into the spacesf between the inner ply, a, of the fold of the plate A and the'portion b of the fold of the head B, there being no obstacle to the passage of the solder by the bends of the plates A and B at the point 0, because the tinned surface of the plate A is there preserved.

Any tendency of the joint to break at the bend of the folds of the plates is resisted by a double thickness of metal, not only on both of the sides of the bend 6, but on both sides of that openingg of the joint which is presented toward the interior of the body of the can, the said thicknesses being united by solder at d and f.

One peculiarity of this joint is that the edge of the plate A which forms the inner fold of the joint is presented toward the interior of the can, while in all the other examples represented in Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, and in all other cans known to me inwhich there is alap-joint, the edge of the plate which forms the inner portion of thejoint is presented in an outward direc tion. Gwing to this peculiarity of my joint, and to the feature, hereinabove described, of there being a double thickness of metal on both sides of the only opening, 9, presented toward the interior of the can, thejoints cannot give way through the breakage of the metal at the bend 0 without breaking two thicknesses of metal, while in all the examples represented in Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, and in all the joints known to me, there is only one thickness at the point e which has to be broken in order to destroy the joint. This strengthening of the joint by the folding in of the marginal portion a is obtained without any extra expense of metal, as compared with the joints represented in Figs. 3 and 4. It is well known that the tin plates as they come to the market have very uneven edges, and the plates forming the sides a of the can for that reason have to be trimmed to make them. presentaperfectly straight edge. I simply utilize the portion usually removed by trimming, and thereby wasted, and make it ICO useful to re-enforce and strengthen thejoint. Moreover, there is another advantage which results from thus turning in instead of removing the margin by cutting away, for the solder does not so freely pass the cut raw iron edge of the plate at the point e of the joint so readily as it passes the edge of the bend where the tin is preserved. Therefore I obtain a more perfect soldering of the part b of the head B with the adjacent part of the plate Athan can be obtained when the margin of the tin-plate is cut away and wasted. There is still another advantage resulting from thus retaining the edge of the plate, as in the process of manufacturing tin plates there is often a considerable quantity of the tin left in the form of a selvage on the edge of the plate, and in the process of dippingthe joint for the purpose of soldering it the tin so left on the edge of the plate at t is fused and utilized in soldering the parts a b together.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A joint for two plates of a sheetmetal vessel, in which the plate which forms the inner portion of the joint has its margin folded in- .ward and the plate which forms the outer porparts the inwardly-folded 0r doubled margin 0 of the first-named plate, whereby a double lap is formed on both sides of the joint, substantially as herein described.

HERMAN MILLER.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, HENRY J. MoBRIDE. 

